What will YOU do?

As the election results seem to be tipping to and fro (more fro Bush at the moment, but you never know), I was wondering…

…How will you react if the election does not go the way you want it to? Will you just sigh and tell yourself it’s only four years, or will you take some sort of (presumably not illegal) action?

I myself have had to deal with serving under a president I was not particularly thrilled to have as my Commander-in-Chief, yet I survived relatively unscathed (whatever scathing I suffered was probably not Clinton’s fault in any case). No matter who is finally elected president, I suspect I will go about my business as usual. I don’t plan to march on the capital demanding a change in how the system works. It works pretty well – it just doesn’t give me what I want every time. Somebody gets the result they hoped for. Maybe next time it’ll be my turn. After all, the vote is pretty close, so neither of the potential presidents has what I would consider a “Mandate of the People”.

I prefer to live in peace with the “opposition” in power (I presume they also want what’s best for America, just a different idea what’s best and how to implement their ideas). It’s not like this is the last election there will ever be, right?

~~Baloo

Great question Baloo! I too, was tempted to start a thread on this exact same topic.

I for one may be obliged to engage in civil disobedience or active dissidence if Bush manages to take possession of the Oval Office.

If a Bush administration actively pursues the abolition of a woman’s right to choose I will be compelled to protest and engage in political activism to counter such an event.

That neither candidate has received anything close to a people’s mandate is highly indicative of the population’s disillusionment with modern, money driven politics. Our next president may well be crippled by this lack of ordained authority. Seeing how repugnant both of the candidates are, this may actually be a good thing.

Before the elections, my response if Bush would become president was to sigh and think the world is coming to the end.

How I mature in just a few weeks. Sure, I dislike Bush, but he can’t be any worse than Reagan, so I just sigh and say, “It’ll be only four years. At least we had 8 years of a Democrat in office.” Plus, I just look forward to all the teasing Bush will get from the media (like SNL or MAD TV–not quality programming, sure, but entertaining just a little bit…besides, don’t get me started on how much SNL has gone downhill since Phil Hartman left the show/since the mid-90’s).

From,

Anake

“Lockbox.”
“Stratergerie.”

Well, initially I might do what I did for that one hour we thought Bush had won: sob uncontrollably. (Yes, i really did.)

Then I will get on with my life, and pray daily that the Congress stops him from doing anything really dastardly like destroy Alaska looking for oil or appoint right wing assholes to the Supreme Court.

The problem is that this isn’t just a popularity contest. There are very real and desperately important issues at stake, and the results of this election could reverberate for decades.

stoid

Stoidela: If you’re that concerned, why are you just planning to get on with life and pray? Why not do something about it instead? Join a group that you feel represents your views. Donate to worthy political causes. Go out and fight for something.

The same thing I’ve been doing the last eight years. Getting along.

I do, and I think everyone should. I do believe that every little bit counts.

But in the end, laws come back to presidents, congress, and the Supreme court. I don’t have a lot of control there.

Stoidela, you’re taking this all way too seriously. I’m a Libertarian, and as a result I’ve had to put up with having the devil in power all my life. You know what? It’s not a big deal. The President isn’t going to run your life - you probably won’t even notice the difference.

I don’t know how old you are, but I think a lot of the extreme attitudes I’m hearing are coming from people in their 20’s who have spent most of their adult lives under a Democratic President, and think the conservatives are evil incarnate.

I’ve been following politics since Carter was in power, and you know what? There’s just not that much difference. I remember people thinking that the earth had imploded when Reagan was elected. We heard about how he was going to start WWIII, how civil rights were going to be overturned, how greed was going to run rampant, etc. In fact, the military was modestly increased, and social programs increased even more.

Then when Clinton was elected, we had idiots like Rush Limbaugh proclaiming the same thing, but on the other side. Moral decay, family values being destroyed, the military collapsing, rampant regulation, etc. And as it turned out, Clinton’s actions were actually more conservative than Bush’s because that’s what the country wanted.

Whoever gets in this time will be a lame duck just like Clinton was, which means four years of gridlock, which I see as a good thing. It means the federal goverment probably won’t change much from where it is now, and people will get on with their lives.

Nothing worth sobbing about here.

Sam, I think you are probably right. I certainly hope so.

As it happens, I am 42, and I have voted in every election I could since 1976, and I have never been as invested in the outcome as I have been in this one. I have looked closely at why this is so important to me, and I think there are several reasons, some have to do with the fear of what Bush could do, and some are purely visceral.

I do deeply fear what Bush might do to the Supreme Court. Not just for Roe, but a host of other issues besides. I am deeply, deeply disturbed by the direction things have taken in the country in regards to criminal law and how it relates to the constitution. I don’t want any more right wings on the court pushing us further in the wrong direction.

As much as I like Clinton, I haven’t been happy with his central move. Gore is actually much more liberal than Clinton is, and I like that. I’ve always liked Gore, since he first became VP. That a politician wrote a book warning about global warming…well, he just won me over right there, if he hadn’t before.

Anyway, the truth of hte matter is that apart from my politics, I just see Bush winning as a gross, gross injustice. I feel he is so incredibly unworthy, so deeply undeserving, and such a disgusting, smug person that it offends me deeply that he was even the candidate, much less that he might actually end up the president. I think that Gore is a man who has spent his whole life trying to do the right thing and has devoted himself to his work. Bush woke up one day and because he was bored decided to run for Governor, then prez. All with a sickening sense of entitlement that disturbs me very, very deeply.

So…that’s why I sobbed. In short. sorta.

I’ll tell ya this…it came right from the gut. I was doing the whole hyperventilating thing. My face was trashed the next day.

I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to take a break from this whole thing. I’m feeling a little to involved in a re-count of a pesidential election. I’m not coming near this computer tomorrow, and I’m going to try my hardest not to even think about this election until more info comes out.

I have a feeling this will drag on for a week or so. (hopefully no more) I have also almost resigned myself to a Gore presidency. See you in a day or so.

To paraphrase Torricelli,

I really want Bush to win, but even more than that, I want SOMEONE to win.

Stoidela: Don’t worry too much about the Supreme court. The odds are that the next president will only get to appoint one or major two justices at most. And remember, those choices have to be confirmed.

And finally, Supreme Court justices have a tendency to surprise the people that nominated them. There have been lots of cases of a liberal president appointing what he thought was a liberal, only to have him or her side with conservatives in the majority of cases, and vice versa.

I don’t know why you think Bush is so undeserving when Gore is not, unless you think that a career in politics is somehow much more validating than a career in business. Gore has been in politics all his life - that makes his judgement about the ‘average person’ as skewed as a Hollywood movie star. Bush probably isn’t much better, coming from the privileged background he does. Both of them were party animals when they were younger and screwed around in school (as did a lot of us). Neither of them is particularly brilliant, although Gore has that metaphor thing nailed. Both of them come from political families. They agree with each other the vast majority of policy issues, and where they differ is pretty marginal. School Vouchers or a ‘lockbox’ aren’t going to change the course of America.

In my case, it might make the difference between moving to Europe after I get my doctorate and moving to Europe before I get my doctorate.

At this point, I’m hoping that the guy I don’t want wins (who happens to be Bush). Whoever wins will have perhaps the most miserable presidency on record - an evenly divided Congress and Senate, lack of a moral mandate, an aroused losing party, and the fact that the republic usually punishes an unpopular president by electing as many congresspersons from the other party as possible in the midterm elections.

Our next president won’t be able to take a piss without massive polling and a fight in the house. He’ll be a lame duck, and will get turfed out after four years, and the incoming president will have a friendly Congress and look all the better for being the current winner’s relief.

If I were Gore, I’d ‘do the honourable thing’ just to let Bush fall on his face. As some reporter at Slate pointed out, because of the doubt surrounding the outcome in Florida, Gore can probably get back on the ticket in '04, at which point he’ll wallop the shit out of Dubya.

I agree with the OP and Lib that it’s no big deal. And I agree with Hansel that whoever wins now loses in '04. Look at it this way: the country really can’t be much better off in four years than it is now. The economy will eventually slow down, and there may be a foreign crisis. And whoever’s in office will get blamed.

Gore beats Bush in a rematch.
McCain beats Gore.

I agree with the sentiments that this is becoming an election where the winner may really be the loser and vice versa.

As for things I might do, I was thinking about pledging some portion, if not all, of my tax cut under Bush (assuming it becomes reality) to causes fighting against him … particularly on issues like the environment. To some extent, that obviously depends on how bad he turns out to be. I think it is a real mystery how he would actually govern. People make a big deal about Gore re-inventing himself, but the truth is there are also two different George W. Bushes and it is hard to know if this election fiasco will push him toward the center or make him more beholden to the Right Wing power base. (There was a good article about this question of how each candidate might govern last Sunday in the NY Times.)

the winner/loser thing.

But going with that means dealing with that horrid little man for four years. Really, you have no idea how distressing I find the mere sight of his face. (Although I softened towards him for a split second today when i saw him with his dog).

Also, the American Public has a laughably short memory. But '04…who knows?

And Sam, Bush is not deserving because he hasn’t had a “career” at anything, he’s a dilettante…(and that looks misspelled, but Gates and co tell me its so) he had a career fucking people over trying to become an oil baron, then he sat in the stands and clapped for his team. As governor, he’s presided over an already fat and happy state that hasn’t had any testing crises since he’s been in office.

anyway…

At least now I can deal with it if he’s president, for all the reasons cited above. It’s just been ruined for him, and of that I’m glad.

I will put an “Impeach Bush” bumper sticker on my car. It will reside right next to the “Don’t blame me I voted for Gore” bumper sticker.

I will then try to influence congress to set up an “Independent” counsel for the sole purpose of my making Bush look like an ass. During this time I will actively be seeking out women or even preferably men who may have slept with/done drugs with/or been involved in a land deal with Bush. I will attempt to charge the tax payers of America millions on wild goose chases all the while claiming that “I know what is best for them” despite the polls which clearly state that the majority of Americans do not agree with it. I will also blame him for the “grid lock” that occurred while he was in office despite that it was my party that actually cause the problems.

Mostly, I of course, will go on with my particularly pathetic life and bitch about the government. Unless of course he start to interfere with a women’s reproductive, then I will be on the street protesting.

Canada keeps looking better and better everyday.
sigs
Either way, with the way this election has gone, the presidency is already tained. Neither canadate has the power of the electoral vote behind them to back their agenda…so very little will be accomplished to either extrene as expected (busget, tax cuts, health care…etc).
I’m hoping for a very uneventful 4 years (if Bush wins) and hope he will not muck up our international relations too bad. crosses fingers
so where can I get my “dont blame me, I voted for Gore” bumper sticker?
grins
ciao!

I’m gonna work my ass off to get the way we vote in Ohio changed! We use those stupid butterfly balots, and they are obviously outmoded. Don’t know what the answer is yet, but something has to be better.

**

:smiley: